Historic series of Miroslaw Balka’s unique pieces was created in an accidental fire of his studio in 1993, from which impressions of photographs and preparatory drawings emerged to their form as seen today. The process of reduction, being the basis for Balka’s practice, happens in this particular body of works in a different way. It is the natural element that does the ‘reducing’ and the artist’s creation happens by recognizing its power. The final product of this exchange becomes a beautiful metaphor for creation as such.
Balka uses height, gravity, distance, and continuous space in order to approach the necessity of understanding remembrance and memory itself. He brings the viewer in to a position of experience and absorption and as less of an observer and more of a witness. Realizing the importance behind sculptures relative to monuments and memorials, embracing fear and crossing thresholds, approaching an infinite search; whether it is to escape, or find the missing pieces/letters in order to reach an understanding. Balka creates a space where it is pertinent to acknowledge what it means to remember.